After watching Urijah Faber make his comeback this pas weekend, I thought to myself about how many times he had come so close to winning the belt. Urijah Faber is known as one of the best fighters of all time. Being in the UFC Hall of Fame gives you that recognition, but the legend has never won UFC Gold. So this is a mini breakdown of some of the best fighters that never wore UFC Gold.
Donald Cowboy Cerrone
Cerrone has been successful in his own right, having won Fight of the NIght six times, Performance of the Night seven times, KO of the Night three times and Submission of the Night two times. A total of 18 post-fight bonuses for most of all time. Cowboy also has the recrd for most wins in the UFC (23) and most finishes in UFC history (16).
Cerone was awarded his first title shot at Lightweight in 2015, where he lost in 66 seconds via TKO to Rafael Dos Anjos.
Alistair Overeem
The only championship that Overeem hasn’t won is the UFC Gold. Not that he didnt have his chances either. Overeem can go down as one of the best Heavyweights in combat sports history. He has won championships in Pride, K1 and Strikeforce but bever the UFC belt.
Overeem lost a tough fight to Stipe Miocic for the belt and since then hasn’t been able to regain his momentum having lost to Ngannou and Blades back to back. Overeem is a far cry from the Ubereem that fought in Japan but he is still one the best in my books. Give the man his dues.
Urijah Faber
The inspiration to this list. Urijah Faber is one of the main reasons why i started to watch MMA and not just the UFC. Faber was once the king of the little guys when the UFC didn’t have any low weight classes. Even though he was the WEC champ for a while he never won the UFC belt. He fought four times for the belt and came up short everytime. Twice to Rena Barao and Dominick Cruz. The California Kid has made his comeback and he wants another shot. This time vs Current Bantam and Flyweight Champ Henry Cejudo.
Joe Benavidez
Better knows as Joe Jitsu, Benavidez is the ultimate warrior. He fights whoever whenever, he has amazing stamina and is one of the most well rounded fighters on the planet. It’s just too bad that he’s missed a few chances to call himself a World champ. He has fought once for the belt vs the P4P best in the world Demetrious Johnson, but came up short. Having won nine of his last te fights, including one vs Henry Cejudo, current champ. Joe is well on his way for a title shot and I’ll be very happy to see him finaly become a world champ.
Diaz Bros
Who doesn’t love the Diaz brothers? I know that I’m tuned in whenever they’re in front of a camera. We’ll start with the eldest Diaz, Nick. Nick was a Strikeforce champ but never won a UFC title. Some might say it’s because of Uncle Dana, I think it’s because most guys were scared to fight him. Nick Diaz lost two title shots, once to George St-Pierre in a split decision and he also fight Carlos Condit for the interim title.
Nate Diaz, my boy! Love everything about this guy. His take no prisoner style, his i don’t give a fuck, walking aorund with his middle finger up. Nate has only had one title shot and that was back in 2012. The main reason why Nate hasn’t a title fight since 2012 when he lost to Ben Henderson. Nate has only 6 times since then and twice were superfights at Welterweight vs Conor Mcgregor, they split the fights and are likely to have a rubber match. Some would say, tapping Mcgregor in the first in two weeks notice was his title fight.
That’s my list and I’m sticking to it. Not really I’ll probably change my mind tomorrow.